PHYSICIANS and other health workers are demanding that President Duterte guarantee their safety as they work in the countryside, in the wake of the killing of Dreyfuss Perlas, a physician, by a lone gunman in Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte.
Dr. Julie Caguiat, convener of Protection and Justice for Doctors and Health Workers and the Community Medicine Development Foundation Inc., condemned what she described as the “harassment, intimidation and even murders of community-based health professionals and health volunteers.”
For her part, Dr. Edelina de la Paz, president of the Health Action for Human Rights, said, “As we mourn the death of Doctor Perlas and await the result of the investigation that hopefully would serve him justice, we also remember the other doctors and health workers whose rights are continuously being violated or even killed without justice being served until now.”
The Council for Health and Development (CHD) executive director, Dr. Eleanor A. Jara, also expressed indignation over the killing of Perlas, who worked as a contractual physician for the Doctors to the Barrios DTTB) program of the Department of Health.
Jara’s group is the national secretariat of more than 60 community-based health programs nationwide.
CHD said the killing of Perlas is a slap on the face of the Duterte administration, which has not only failed to provide enough doctors in rural communities, but has also been remiss in providing security to community doctors who risk their lives in the service of the people.